29 comments:

Anonymous
said...

How are they getting screwed? Everyone was told there would be layoffs if the police got a 5% raise. The greedy PBA insisted on raises for highly paid veteran officers instead of saving the jobs of junior officers. Put the blame where it belongs ... on the PBA.

Now the union operates on a fixed contract. That contract was approved and voted upon by the Mayor and the Commissioners.

As opposed to:1) the CRA deal given to the Miami Beach Convention Center which will cost us $800 million to postpone $32 million in payments for 2014 and 2015 2) the shuffling the $50 million dollars from the Marlin's debt service bond payment to launder it through the zoo and into last year's police budget, and 3) the stealing of the $70 million in library's reserves to pay for previous years fire department.

Just these three items are cause for recall. Gimenez is not a business person at the helm. He is committing fraud on the taxpayers who plan to live in Miami-Dade County after the year 2020.

Why will Miami-Dade's infrastructure be falling apart? It is not due to union workers - which is the majority of the county workforce. Union members are not ignoring the imminent problems. In fact, they are the ones leading the research into how to save the county money. The unions were tasked with finding savings in the health plan.

If you take away 5 percent then add back 5 percent how is that a raise?negative 5 plus positive 5 equals zero. a contract is a contract except in dealing with miami slave county or better yet batista conty!

There is no cap on sick leave if you put in 25 years as a police officer (pg 40 of the Leave Manual). You get a full payout at your final rate of pay, regardless of when you earned that leave. Ditto for holiday leave (a favorite of police and fire). Vacation leave is capped at 500 hours but paid out at the highest rate, too.

Many people retire from the county with leave balance checks in the six figures. I watched a retired county attorney exit with almost half a million dollars in leave.

Yes it is a very good deal but it is essentially a retirement plan bank many employees use instead of the monthly payment to their IRA but it earns no interest.. most full time employees get a vacation and they can choose to use some and bank some. Over 20 or 30 years it can add up to six figures depending on how much one banks, just like a private sector IRA. and it's not a hit on the county budget since it's money already earned under previous budgets..

But as you mention it's payout is at current base pay which has been static for years.. Now if Carlos can cut the base pay by another 10% (the offer on the table) these retirement payout takes a 10% hit overnight. A little shocking after saving up for 30 years.

but guess which is the one department exempt from the mayor's base pay cuts? the attorneys. Same guys people have accused of gaming the system for years.

County employees don't need a retirement bank. They have PENSIONS. County Commissioner Barbara Jordan retired from the county. She is a millionaire with multiple homes and now makes over $150k per year just from her county pension. She did not need the six figure leave payout she received when he retired.

No responsible company or organization pays out sick leave and I doubt there is another place in the world that pays out unlimited sick leave.

Get a grip. County employees pay taxes too. There's no tipping. No cash transactions. No grey economy income. Straight paycheck from a contractual pay plan. It's all black and white. That's why you target the government employee. It's all in the open as opposed to businesses that operate on cash.

"Employees don't need a retirement bank they have pensions"???Are you on crack? Do you have any idea how much their pension is?

That's like saying if you have a small 401k, you don't NEED and IRA.

There are no AFSCME union workers getting anywhere near $150,000 a year. The average is more like $15,000, if that. Even the FRS warns members their pension will not be enough to live on..

FRS also warns members lump sum payouts are very expensive as IRS gets a huge bite. Most employees take their bank at the end of their career. In other words they have their retirement on January 1, pack up and leave but are technically on vacation until February or March when their paycheck ends. So in reality they just store their vacation days for 30 years then take them all at once.

Again, these days are paid for over a 30 year budget cycle so there is no six figure hit from this on the budget the year an employee retires.

I don't work for the county but saving my PTO benefits so I can get a big payday when I quit. The private sector also has employment contracts. I'm in a low risk job and don't put my life on the line daily like police officers and fire fighters. So what's wrong with cashing in at the end of your employment?

The district 8 area loses 28 officers each from Kendall and Hammocks Districts. Cutler Ridge/south district loses 37.

That is without looking at the demotions from that area.

The Kendall south area to countyline is the largest area to police in the county. You already have a 10-15 minute response time on the western side of the county. What happens to response times when they start cutting entire squads?

For you Bell supporter farmers at the farm bureau, this affects you. You even lost a gal on Ag patrol on top of the other hits.

G-man is Gimenez? Sounds just like the rant he has been feeding the public as part of his labor negotiating. it makes a good sound bite. "County workers breaking the budget with six figure payouts. Got to layoff cops to make ends meet"

But it is smoke a mirrors. The payouts have nothing to do with the current budget. When the unions ask him to explain how capping hours saves money or how it is screwing up the budget and how it puts cops back on the street he gets real quiet.

And this is only one item of dozens he wants deleted which have little or no budget impact but he claims "save 200 million"

G man want another example? The first item on his list. Unions are no longer notified when county jobs are contracted out WTF? Unions want to be able to bid for their own jobs. You would think competitive bidding would drive down County cost and notifying the union cost the county NOTHING. what it does make clear is SOMEBODY is trying to get county contracts to his friends and family and he doesn't want the employees to find out and start whistleblowing.

He would like to muzzle critics (the unions) and using police layoffs as cover.

Rivera is annoying, but he is not going to lay down and let the county run over the police. For all River's thuglike charms, I would rather have him with me in a dark alley protecting me than Gimenez. Rivera may enjoy being a lobbyist and benefit from the dinners, but at least he doesn't think cops are dumb.

lynda stop responding to this blog. your comments are absurd as you are. go back to throwing yourself on the floor and screaming and flopping around as you pray to your GOD.also, start packing your stuff. in 13 days you are toast.

I am not shedding a tear. I am not one to bash cops at every opportunity and they are obviously critical to quality of life to the community but let's not go overboard. Anyone that knows more than one cop knows at least one that is scamming the system. I know one guy who got the plum assignment of doing the scheduling. Needless to say he worked overtime consistently - every week actually. His salary ballooned and he clicked into the six figure range and brought up all his buddies with him. New pool, new boat, fixed up the house. Not only that but his pension got a boost since it is based on the highest five years of salary and it took at least 6 before his bosses even bothered to do anything about it. By that time another friend had purchased a second home in another state with up front money. These guys were dropping bills as if they were Tony Montana. I know it's one example but I know of plenty of guys that pad their salaries to boost their pensions. If this b.s. wouldn't be going on they could help bring costs to a saner level.

To those lost souls who feel county employees, you now the ones that keep the bad man from your door, pick you you up when your sick, pick up your trash or fix the pipe so your toilet won't back up, make too much money and benefits I ask, if county jobs are so lucrative what kept you from applying for one? Lack of schooling, drug use, afraid to wear a gun and a badge? Give credit where credit is due.

Anyone that knows more than one cop knows at least one that is scamming the system.

Excuse me, but if you knew he was scamming the system, you report it, even if you aren't a cop. You can go to Crimestoppers anonymously, the inspector general, FDLE, or other somewheres, and report scammers. It would have been followed up on.

So as a citizen, don't be a spectator and then complain about the abuse. If you know whats going on and don't complain, that makes you an accessory to the scam.